Is family history of depression a risk factor for poststroke depression? Meta-analysis

To determine whether family history of psychiatric disorder constitutes a risk factor for the development of poststroke depression.

A meta-analysis setting: patients examined for depression following stroke seen in acute care, rehabilitation hospital, or outpatient care settings.

All patients who were reported in the world's literature in English language publications in which information was provided about the existence or not of poststroke depression and the presence or absence of a family history of psychiatric disorder.

The frequency of family history of psychiatric disorder was determined for each study as well as the relationship of family history to the presence of poststroke depression.

Based on data obtained from 903 patients with stroke, the fixed model analysis found a risk ratio of 1.51 and the random model a risk ratio of 1.46 for the existence of poststroke depression if there is a positive family history of psychiatric disorder compared with a negative family history.

The existence of a positive family history of psychiatric disorder constitutes a risk factor for development of poststroke depression. The role of family history in poststroke depression, however, appears to be substantially lower than among elderly depressed patients without evidence of vascular disease.